Post: #1

I could of swore someone made a thread on this book, but I couldn't find anything. It seems like a real interesting one. Anyone read it before?

Quote:In the spring of 2009 a pair of research psychologists named Jean Twenge and W. Keith Campbell published a book arguing that recent cultural developments, things like over-indulgent parenting, youtube and Carrie Prejean, have caused young American women to become delusional egomaniacs. They called this a "narcissism epidemic" and put forth a good deal of data and definitions to support it, far more in fact than they probably needed since the central idea - that women under 30 increasingly present a wildly unrealistic (in fact pathological) picture of their own success to themselves and to their peers - was embraced and confirmed wholesale by just about every publication (The WSJ, the Daily Mail, Newsweek, the Guardian, et al.) that reviewed the book.

Quote:On a reality TV show, a girl planning her Sweet Sixteen wants a major road blocked off so a marching band can precede her grand entrance on a red carpet. Five times as many Americans undergo plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures as ten years ago, and ordinary people hire fake paparazzi to follow them around to make them look famous. High school students physically attack classmates and post YouTube videos of the beatings to get attention. And for the past several years, Americans have been buying McMansions and expensive cars on credit they can't afford.

Although these seem like a random collection of current trends, all are rooted in a single underlying shift in American culture: the relentless rise of narcissism, a very positive and inflated view of self. Narcissists believe they are better than others, lack emotionally warm and caring relationships, constantly seek attention, and treasure material wealth and physical appearance. In The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement, psychologists and professors Jean Twenge and W. Keith Campbell draw from empirical research and cultural analysis to expose the destructive spread of narcissism. Perhaps most important, they also discuss treatment – what each of us can do to stop the epidemic of narcissism so corrosive to society.

http://www.narcissismepidemic.com/index.html

Post: #2

(05-21-2012 05:57 AM)houston Wrote:  I could of swore someone made a thread on this book, but I couldn't find anything. It seems like a real interesting one. Anyone read it before?

Quote:In the spring of 2009 a pair of research psychologists named Jean Twenge and W. Keith Campbell published a book arguing that recent cultural developments, things like over-indulgent parenting, youtube and Carrie Prejean, have caused young American women to become delusional egomaniacs. They called this a "narcissism epidemic" and put forth a good deal of data and definitions to support it, far more in fact than they probably needed since the central idea - that women under 30 increasingly present a wildly unrealistic (in fact pathological) picture of their own success to themselves and to their peers - was embraced and confirmed wholesale by just about every publication (The WSJ, the Daily Mail, Newsweek, the Guardian, et al.) that reviewed the book.

Quote:On a reality TV show, a girl planning her Sweet Sixteen wants a major road blocked off so a marching band can precede her grand entrance on a red carpet. Five times as many Americans undergo plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures as ten years ago, and ordinary people hire fake paparazzi to follow them around to make them look famous. High school students physically attack classmates and post YouTube videos of the beatings to get attention. And for the past several years, Americans have been buying McMansions and expensive cars on credit they can't afford.

Although these seem like a random collection of current trends, all are rooted in a single underlying shift in American culture: the relentless rise of narcissism, a very positive and inflated view of self. Narcissists believe they are better than others, lack emotionally warm and caring relationships, constantly seek attention, and treasure material wealth and physical appearance. In The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement, psychologists and professors Jean Twenge and W. Keith Campbell draw from empirical research and cultural analysis to expose the destructive spread of narcissism. Perhaps most important, they also discuss treatment – what each of us can do to stop the epidemic of narcissism so corrosive to society.

http://www.narcissismepidemic.com/index.html

Never heard of it before. Might have to purchase a copy. It got some decent reviews on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Narcissism-Epi...1416575987

Post: #3

Quote: a very positive and inflated view of self. Narcissists believe they are better than others, lack emotionally warm and caring relationships, constantly seek attention, and treasure material wealth and physical appearance.

Yup, I dated a narcissist, a seriously crazy, fucked up bitch. It's a "cluster B personality disorder", that overlaps frequently with borderline, anti-social, and historonic personality disorders. Avoid these types like the plague, but that's getting hard to do these days, as it truly is an "epidemic". Most American women exhibit a lot of these traits, but the ones that have all traits of the disorder, especially on the extreme end, take it to another level.

Post: #4

Adding this book to my "must read" list. Definitely interested in hearing the opinion of any forum members that have read it.

On a somewhat related note, has anybody noticed how single mothers (especially teenage mothers) treat their child like it's some sort of fucking trophy?

Post: #5

Definitely interested in this as well.

Maybe its just me or Im not sure, but I dont think this is really anything new to anybody-hell just look at your facebook news feed and you'll see how ridiculous things have become. I almost cant stand it. Gotta check this out when I have the time.

Post: #6

How can rates of mental diseases like narcissism increase? I thought these sort of things were genetic.
If that's the case, are there environmental settings where people don't develop fucked up personalities?

Also, I agree that this is epidemic. My roommate's girlfriend was one psycho and manipulative bitch. Straight up cluster B vampire.

Post: #7

(05-21-2012 10:45 PM)IpsaScientiaPotestasEst Wrote:  Definitely interested in this as well.

Maybe its just me or Im not sure, but I dont think this is really anything new to anybody-hell just look at your facebook news feed and you'll see how ridiculous things have become. I almost cant stand it. Gotta check this out when I have the time.

Yup. We live self centered, shallow and shitty lives these days.

Receiving attention and appreciation is a basic human need. Today, however, people constantly seek attention but don't reciprocate. You don't get anything back.

It's prevalent in all areas of life....and not only women are affected.

Needless to say, it makes interactions between men and women pretty hard. Not only does the woman play hard to get like she should, she is a narcistic bitch, too, who grossly overestimates her value.

Post: #8

I heard Dr. Drew Pinsky say that he thought MEN were more narcissistic than women. He believes celebrity women are more narcissistic than male celebs, but non-celebrity men are more narcissistic than women. He didn't elaborate, or wasn't clear as to what his interpretation of narcissism is, but I don't see it. If he's equating "male ego" with a higher level of narcissism, MAYBE, though I still wouldn't agree.

Post: #9

I think the key thing to remember is that narcissism doesn't come from confidence, it's actually how people compensate for insecurity. I forget where I read this, but one explanation for it was that modern communications systems and media cause us to constantly have to hear about successful people, which tricks our puny brains into feeling inadequate. You hear about Mark Zuckerberg and feel like a loser in comparison, but you aren't thinking about the fact that out of the 150 million dudes in this country, 149.99 million of them are losers too. So you compare yourself to celebrities, feel inadequate, then compensate by becoming a narcissist.

Post: #10

(05-22-2012 05:18 PM)BortimusPrime Wrote:  I think the key thing to remember is that narcissism doesn't come from confidence, it's actually how people compensate for insecurity. So you compare yourself to celebrities, feel inadequate, then compensate by becoming a narcissist.

Yeah that's the bizarre thing, is that deep down inside narcissists are incredibly insecure, have a very fragile ego, and need constant attention to fill the void of emptiness. It's hard for a sane person to comprehend the contradiction between the duality of the insecurity as well as the extreme conceitedness that exist in a narcissists mind.

The thing about narcissists is that they don't give a fuck about anyone else but themselves, no matter how much they say they love you, you are the world to them, etc.

They're out for themselves and they see everything in terms of what benefits them, everything is cold and calculated. With narcissists, but with borderlines especially, they always see themselves as the victim, and will make excuses and rationalizations for all of their fucked up behavior.

Post: #11

That'd be my ex-wife all right. May have to read this one.

Post: #12

Some real life examples from the book : /thread-11111-...#pid213858

Post: #13

I still haven't read the book. I need to see if the library has it. I thought about it after seeing some stupid youtube video on here of a girl talking about going to an atheist meeting lol. Who gives a fuck bitch?? I don't get why people feel the need to express every little action and thought to the world (facebook). I also don't understand why people feel the need to express their beliefs (atheism) onto everyone like anyone cares.

Post: #14

Looks like I've found my next read.

Post: #15

(02-05-2013 10:46 AM)RXB Wrote:  Looks like I've found my next read.

Put up a review please

Post: #16

(05-21-2012 05:57 AM)houston Wrote:  I could of swore someone made a thread on this book, but I couldn't find anything. It seems like a real interesting one. Anyone read it before?

Quote:In the spring of 2009 a pair of research psychologists named Jean Twenge and W. Keith Campbell published a book arguing that recent cultural developments, things like over-indulgent parenting, youtube and Carrie Prejean, have caused young American women to become delusional egomaniacs. They called this a "narcissism epidemic" and put forth a good deal of data and definitions to support it, far more in fact than they probably needed since the central idea - that women under 30 increasingly present a wildly unrealistic (in fact pathological) picture of their own success to themselves and to their peers - was embraced and confirmed wholesale by just about every publication (The WSJ, the Daily Mail, Newsweek, the Guardian, et al.) that reviewed the book.

Quote:On a reality TV show, a girl planning her Sweet Sixteen wants a major road blocked off so a marching band can precede her grand entrance on a red carpet. Five times as many Americans undergo plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures as ten years ago, and ordinary people hire fake paparazzi to follow them around to make them look famous. High school students physically attack classmates and post YouTube videos of the beatings to get attention. And for the past several years, Americans have been buying McMansions and expensive cars on credit they can't afford.

Although these seem like a random collection of current trends, all are rooted in a single underlying shift in American culture: the relentless rise of narcissism, a very positive and inflated view of self. Narcissists believe they are better than others, lack emotionally warm and caring relationships, constantly seek attention, and treasure material wealth and physical appearance. In The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement, psychologists and professors Jean Twenge and W. Keith Campbell draw from empirical research and cultural analysis to expose the destructive spread of narcissism. Perhaps most important, they also discuss treatment – what each of us can do to stop the epidemic of narcissism so corrosive to society.

http://www.narcissismepidemic.com/index.html

It's true but I know for a fact that proportionately speaking I am at least 5 times more narcissistic than my father and probably 8 times more narcissistic than each of my grandparents.

By comparison my sisters aren't even as narcissistic as my mother.

I'm not disagreeing with you by any means - certainly American girls on the whole are tons more narcissistic than previous generations. However, I'd say the same is EASILY true for men thanks to the boy bands, Jersey Shore, the glorification of Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling, etc.

Post: #17

(02-04-2013 12:18 AM)houston Wrote:  I still haven't read the book. I need to see if the library has it. I thought about it after seeing some stupid youtube video on here of a girl talking about going to an atheist meeting lol. Who gives a fuck bitch?? I don't get why people feel the need to express every little action and thought to the world (facebook). I also don't understand why people feel the need to express their beliefs (atheism) onto everyone like anyone cares.

I feel the need to push atheism on believers because they're wasting so much time and mental energy believing something that's clearly false if you use even a moderate amount of logic. How anybody can't see that religion was more or less created as a means of population control (keep the poor from overthrowing the rich) absolutely astounds me. How you can't read the news and see that the universe is expanding at an increasing rate, meaning that not only is the earth but a mere grain of sand on the beach of the universe, but we're getting proportionately and infinitely smaller..... well... there is clearly no "God" - at least not in the sense that we were taught as children.

Also - religion is clearly the most dangerous thing in the world today. If the world ever does "end" I'll bet you a ham sandwich with cheese that it has to do with a clash of religions.

Post: #18

(02-05-2013 10:55 PM)MikeinMKE Wrote:  

(02-04-2013 12:18 AM)houston Wrote:  I still haven't read the book. I need to see if the library has it. I thought about it after seeing some stupid youtube video on here of a girl talking about going to an atheist meeting lol. Who gives a fuck bitch?? I don't get why people feel the need to express every little action and thought to the world (facebook). I also don't understand why people feel the need to express their beliefs (atheism) onto everyone like anyone cares.

I feel the need to push atheism on believers because they're wasting so much time and mental energy believing something that's clearly false if you use even a moderate amount of logic. How anybody can't see that religion was more or less created as a means of population control (keep the poor from overthrowing the rich) absolutely astounds me. How you can't read the news and see that the universe is expanding at an increasing rate, meaning that not only is the earth but a mere grain of sand on the beach of the universe, but we're getting proportionately and infinitely smaller..... well... there is clearly no "God" - at least not in the sense that we were taught as children.

Also - religion is clearly the most dangerous thing in the world today. If the world ever does "end" I'll bet you a ham sandwich with cheese that it has to do with a clash of religions.

Nobody cares about your religious thoughts and it's pointless to push them onto people.

Post: #19

I have had a copy of this for quite some time but have not opened it yet. Pending review.